CONTROLLING IMMIGRATION
It’s Our Right
My father and his family escaped from Munich in 1938, just before the “Night of Broken Glass” (Kristalnacht) and while the Nazis were building Dachau Concentration Camp in a suburb of Munich. They were lucky. While boats of Jews were being turned back by our government even as it became clear that they were going to be killed if they stayed, my grandparents had relatives in California who agreed to sponsor them. In those years, a sponsor had to agree that immigrants they sponsored would not require government aid for at least five years. This meant that should the family not be able to obtain work, the sponsor had to support them. Remember: in those days, German Jews were considered legitimate refugees, but the country felt they could get by on their own.
With very limited English, my 10-year-old father struggled in school till he learned English with no help. My grandfather’s profession didn’t exist here; he managed to support his family with various sales jobs while grandmother taught music. Yet, my family survived and thrived, eventually sending both their sons to college (and my father on to his PhD in chemistry). They quickly assimilated and made significant contributions to their new country.
Most countries have strict rules governing immigration, including Mexico. The focus is admitting only those people who can be useful to the country, i.e., employable, or who can prove enough financial strength to support themselves. As such, these laws protect the citizens from being forced to provide extensive support to immigrants who may never support themselves. I remember hearing some refugees brag about all they had gotten in benefits, stating that “America is a rich county. They can afford to support us.” Most countries also expect you to quickly learn the language and adopt their values and culture. These are reasonable requirements; you shouldn’t just emigrate to be provided freebies while ignoring all other aspects of assimilation.
We taxpayers may feel generous, to a point. But unlimited immigration of refugees who can’t make a strong case for amnesty or who simply breach our borders (illegals) should be discouraged by finding that we have eliminated all the attractive benefits. As long as we have our own poor and homeless citizens, we should not be financing the world’s poor. We have made illegal entry way too attractive and encourage the trafficking of children as a way to bring in whole families who would otherwise not qualify as refugees. No country can afford to host every person who would like to move there. And no one should move here thinking they have a right to change our values, our history, our culture.
It’s time to invoke the laws we already have and institute new ones to allow us to be more selective. We should have the right as “the people,” to select people who:
- Provide benefit to our country,
- Are willing to become part of our existing culture and learn our language and
- Obey our laws and embrace our values.
No one should come here seeking to leech off citizens or to force us to change our laws to suit them (Sharia).We citizens mostly like our country the way it is.If you don’t, stay home
A hall at Dachau Concentration Camp